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Honor and Glory (1993)

This is another Godfrey Ho film that takes place in a world where everyone knows the martial arts, but no one can act. Although lacking in the eyeball pulling mullet madness of Undefeatable, Honour and Glory makes up for it with some of the worst acting I’ve ever witnessed on screen – and I watch films like this all the time! Wait till you see the meeting of the military types near the beginning – brilliant.

Someone’s stolen a nuclear trigger and those military types are stumbling their way through some exposition about it. Meanwhile, head of a bank John Masters (in a truly jaw dropping performance) wants to get a hold of it while staving off a nosey reporter and bumping off members of his board who want rid of him. John’s well mental, a buffed up corporate martial arts expert who hates everyone around him, especially his bodyguard, who really truly acts and sounds like Eddie Murphy. Eddie’s intrigued by the nosey reporter’s mad kung fu skills and they hit off, while she warns him that his boss is up to no good. Cue romantic chopstick stand offs.

Also, the reporters sister in Cynthia Rothrock, and she’s after the trigger with her partner Dragon Lee. Also also, her dad is in the CIA and they’re all part of a kung fu school run by some guy who’s been more like a father to the reporter than the CIA guy. Plus, Micky from the Kung fu school fancies the reporter and can’t act to boot. I’m exhausted remembering all these people. There’s also Slick the pimp, some Japanese guy with an indestructible leg, and probably some other people I’ve forgotten about due to not having many brain cells left from watching all these films. It’s like Godfrey Ho’s ensemble piece as we watch all the family drama, workouts (bother Masters and reporter have their own training segment), and random kung fu fights with people who have little to do with the story.

Let’s just say that the Eddie Murphy guy doesn’t like what his boss is up to (he keeps flashing back to someone being killed, including stuff that happened after he left), and everyone gets together to give Masters a complete drubbing. I’ve never seen a film before where there’s a surplus of good guys who all take on the bad guy at the end, but that’s why I watch these films in the first place. Honour and Glory might not sound as crazy as other Ho films, but you have to see the acting to believe – One guy can’t even get killed without messing it up (the guy who gets his neck broken in a car). John Masters is truly over the top here and to be honest the film needs it, but the prize for bad acting must go to Micky. After he gets a kicking from the Japanese guy (after hammering away at his leg with a baseball bat) his speech to the reporter is brilliant.